China's Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) has accused the U.S. of coercing other countries to curb semiconductor supplies to China after the Netherlands announced new restrictions on exports of some chip-making equipment. It urged the Dutch government not to “hinder the normal cooperation and development of the semiconductor industry between the two countries”. The Netherlands should also “refrain from abusing export control measures, effectively safeguard the common interests of Chinese and Dutch enterprises, so as to maintain the stability of the global semiconductor industry chain supply chain”, the statement said. MOFCOM also claimed the U.S. was seeking to coerce other countries to impose restrictions on China. “In order to maintain its global hegemony, the U.S. has been, in recent years, constantly generalizing the concept of national security, abusing export control measures, even at the expense of allies’ interests, to implement semiconductor suppression against China,” the statement said.
By pushing forward its campaign to stop China’s access to cutting-edge microchip technology, the U.S. was also trying to “artificially promote industry decoupling and disrupt the supply chain”, which the Ministry said seriously damaged the global semiconductor industry. The Netherlands on June 30 said it would impose new export controls that bar high-end chip-making machines from being sold abroad without a permit – aligning its export controls with those of the U.S. and Japan. The measures will come into effect on September 1. They do not specifically mention China, but under the new rules, Dutch firm ASML – the only company in the world that makes highly sophisticated chip-making machines – will have to apply for a license to ship its advanced deep ultraviolet lithography (DUV) systems, including the TWINSCAN NXT: 2000i, and more sophisticated models, to China. In March, China's Ambassador to the Netherlands Tan Jian said there would be consequences if the government blocked the export of high-end semiconductor equipment to China. Hours after the announcement was made, the Chinese Embassy in Amsterdam issued a statement calling on the Netherlands to “immediately correct its wrongdoings”, which it said would harm the interests of Chinese and Dutch companies. “China will pay close attention to relevant developments and resolutely safeguard its legitimate rights and interests,” Mao Ning, Spokeswoman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said at a press conference.
The impact of the updated export controls could initially be limited, as the NXT: 2000i and higher-end tools are used for the more advanced 7-nanometer and 5-nm chips, which are already difficult for Chinese chip makers to produce given broader U.S. export controls. ASML’s lower-end NXT1980i, which can be used for 10-nm chips, is still allowed to be sold to China. Extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines from ASML, used by top chip makers like Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), Samsung Electronics and Intel to produce leading-edge chips for smartphones and artificial intelligence applications, were already banned for export to China.
The latest ban did not come as a complete surprise, as the company as early as March had warned that it may be subject to broader export restrictions on advanced chip-making equipment, but it showed that Beijing’s diplomatic efforts with The Hague had fallen on deaf ears. Liesje Schreinemacher, Dutch Foreign Trade Minister, said that the government had decided that existing export controls “need to be expanded in the interests of national and international security”, but did not name any target country by name. Chinese Ambassador Tan Jian warned in late March that the Netherlands risked losing its lead in chip-making technology if it cut itself off from the largest market in the world, the South China Morning Post reports.
